


We’re young (and we don’t know better)

by orphan_account



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Inappropriate Humor, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Sanji is French, So basically, ahem, and I will fight you on this, for real, some racial bullshit because lots of species in the same place, this is a mixed universty for both mythical beings and humans, you must understand that I take this fic extremely seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:48:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8566354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It was only the first day and Sanji was already planning his escape. Honestly, who had thought it would be a good idea to lock together a whole classroom made of six different species including humans? As a damn fine cook, Sanji could firmely say it was a reciepe for disaster. And he wasn't disappointed.ft. merman!Sanji, shape-shifter!Zoro, fire spirit!Nami, and Luffy, because he deserves his own mention.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ... this is only a mildly-good excuse to have Sanji speaking French. I wrote a little thing called "Please pardon mon français" and people seemed to like it, so I tried writing more and this is what happened. Indulge me.
> 
> As always, I'm French, my parents speak English like a spanish whale and everything I know I learned from TV-shows. This is unbetaed and I apologize for the many mistakes you're sure to find in there. The French parts should be okay, though.
> 
> Title is from Couple of Kids by Maggie Lindermann.

Sanji bit back a strong urge to kick the dumbass in the face. He had only been in class for ten minutes. How could someone be so annoying? He breathed deeply, focusing on the feeling of cool water against his forearm. His old man had gifted him with the wambrace the day before and he was already in love with the thing. It had a sleek design, a long dark piece of vulcanite constantly infused with water from All Blue.

He had already caught the envious eyes of a couple of merfolks who had to settle for a ring or a wristband. Those were usually pretty but not very convinient since there wasn't a lot of contact between the skin and the water. The mers wearing them tired more easily and they grew agressive after a long period of time without direct contact with All Blue water.

Sanji already had quite a temper, so he wasn't about to tempt it by wearing small _bijoux_ when he had another option. And what an option. Feeling more relaxed, he focused again on the lesson. The moronic kid had stopped being an annoyance but that didn't make the lecture more enjoyable. Especially with that many different species in the same room. Where they trying to cause a diplomatic incident?

He was on the second row out of four. They were about thirty and only two smelled like humans. Which was really dumb because, hello, twenty-eight of them against two humans -albeit quite strong if the bitter taste of magic in the air was anything to go by- was just a bloodbath waiting to happen.

Sanji estimated at eight the number of merfolks in the room, including him. And he was apparently the only one from the Channel. There was a Mediterranean girl, a couple of _gills_ from the nord bloodline and all the others were from the Pacific. It made sense, really, they were in Japan. But still. Would have been nice meeting other _océanides_. He was tired of eating the shit the other bloodlines dared call food.

The living disturbance decided now was a good time to speak up again and Sanji had to refrain from throwing something at his head. The kid was cute alright, but he was a _maudit_. The blond was usually the first to spit in the face of prejudices, because _maudits_ weren't that bad, but this one was asking for it. (Again, who thought it was a good idea to put merfolks and _maudits_ in the same room for an extended period of time? Morons.)

The nasty smell of smoke that had been tingling his senses came back in full force. He rolled his eyes. Not only had they mixed _maudits_ and mers, but they added _vulcains_. Sanji thought they were gross, with the liquid lava flowing in their veines faintly glowing underneath their tanned skin. That girl was gorgeous, though. And she was furiously beating the crap out of the _maudit_ , so who was he to complain?

The teacher frowned deeply, increasing deeply his human looks. Behind him, a guy snorted with laugher. He looked over his shoulder to see a green-haired fine exemple of a being. The kid next to him -another maudit- beemed at the dude before patting his shoulder. The strong scent that hit Sanji next couldn't be mistaken. He smelled like a wet dog. Definitely a shape-shifter. (What was that? Student Board being suicidal enough to put that many species together?)

Sanji's very own pain in the ass started making a fool of himself again. The _vulcain_ girl punched him and he fell from his chair. There was a clinking sound followed by the gut-feeling that something was about to go very _wrong_. The teacher blanched and yell "eveybody DOWN!" before jumping to the front row where the _maudit_ was curled up on the floor. The girl had just broken his _bijou_. They were so dead.

Sanji moaned in annoyance before checking that he wasn't the only mer in his row. Another guy had had the same idea and they quickly nodded to each other. The other would take care of this row. The one behind him was for him to protect. He closed his eyes and searched in the back of his mind for the cold, powerful center of what made him a merman. The overwhelming feeling of absolute strenght flooded his mind. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing a fluorescent blue.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for how long it took me to get this chapter out here. Hope you'll enjoy! (oui, c'est toi que je regarde, trésor.)

Ritoru Gaden University was well-ranked upon the mixed schools. Since the discovery of the mythical species, there had been numerous attempts to make them work with the humans. Numerous _failed_ attempts. The only place where mixity seemed to be a thing was in schools. No one knew how that was possible, and accidents still happened, but those were the safest spaces for both humans and Myths.

The best university was, and had always been, in London. British nature might be the reason why everything was working so smoothly. Ritoru Gaden had been built in Japan in 1992 and had a fairly new way of seeing things —they were well known for their trust in mixed classes, which tended to end in the previously mentionned accidents.

Students lived inside the campus and everyone was treated the same way, whether they be humans or Myths. The university even had two presidents, Ms. Boa Hancock and Mr. Dracule Mihawk, coming from both species. Ritoru Gaden was, on paper, one of the greatest accomplishment in race equality. And the truth was, they actually did a great job at it, despite the odds.

As an experiment of sorts, Ritoru Gaden was infamous in the Mythic communities for its no-bullshit policy (and that was the actual name of the thing). The species of the student dident matter, if they were caught being disrespectful over racial issues or threatening another student, they were immeditatly expelled and forbidden to enter another mixed university.

Many employers frowned upon that kind of stain on a record, preventing most of the undergraduates from acting rashly. Ritoru Gaden appeared as an exemple of harmony and good behaviour between species. As expected with a school bearing that kind of reputation, the number of applicants was astronomic.

The Board settled on accepting Mythics with complicated situations regarding their powers, or Mythics who were rejected by their community for whatever reason. Their equality rule had them accept the exact same number of humans mythics of the three genders. (And wasn't that a delight when it came to paperwork.)

And that was how Ritoru Gaden came to host students from all around the world, and of the strangest kind. Aka-Ashi Sanji was one of them (how else would he have been accepted) and was severly regretting the day he decided to apply to a school on the other side of the world where their idea of food was raw fish and seaweed.

He sighed one more time, having stopped counting after coming in the infirmary. They had put him and the other mer in a bathtube where they had been soaking for the past hour. They had been authorized to assume their true form and Sanji had taken the opportunity to learn more about his classmate.

Her blue hair had been braided and her fair features were shining under the white light. Her scent was a dead giveaway: she was a Mediterranean. The scales her skin was made of were way more noticeable now that she was in direct contact with wter. They were indigo on her cheeks and forehead, but changed for a deep blue from her neck down to her thighs.

That was the most interesting thing about her. Instead of a tail like most of the merfolks, she had two strongs legs covered in thick dark scales. He knew only one kind of mer who were able to keep legs in their true form: the royal kind.

He was _very familiar_ with the mediterranean royalty (unfortunately) and had learned about the other mer families when he was still in France. The _gills_ had a clan system and the Pacific was made of tribes. But he wasn't familiar with her markings that looked nothing like royal patterns.

She must have felt his eyes on her, because she smiled brightly, sending his heart racing. She slightly brushed his forearm, where his bijou disappeared under the water, with her foot. He shuddered, recognizing the blessing she just gave him for what it was: an unexpected chance to ask his questions.

 

"Are you a queen," he blurted, not quite asking. Sanji blushed when she chuckled.

"Far from that," she smiled softly. "I'm the heiress of the amazon tribe."

 

He blanched, suddently recognizing the shapes her scales were drawing on her ribs. Of course. He just _had_ to be in the same school as the fucking amazon heiress. They were breaking at least a dozen laws just by staying in the same room unattended. With infinite caution, he slowly moved his arms across his chest. He crossed them, hoping to appear carefree but the raised eyebrow on his classmate face stopped him on his track. He sighed, cursing the Sea and the Moon that they had to be the only two mers injured by the _maudit_ 's attack.

 

"Care to explain what you're doing at Ritoru Gaden, Prince Sanji?"

"None of your business, highness, he grunted. But I'd appreciate your discretion on the matter."

"Of course, she smiled gracefully. After all, you're also in possession of a secret of mine."

He looked at her with surprise. "Why tell me?"

"You would have noticed eventually. It took you less than a minute to recognize my marking as something close to royal. At least now I've secured our situation."

"If only the girl didn't break the maudit's bijou."

"The what's what?" she asked, intrigued.

"I thought those were fairly common names in Europe." It was Sanji's turn to look startled.

"Oh, they must be, I wouldn't know. We use the asian terminology."

"Well, a _maudit_ is— how do they call that, again? Oh yeah, a cursed one. And _bijou_ is our name for the charm containing All Blue's water."

"In that case, yes, if only she didn't. That was stupid of her."

"Are you kidding? The stupidity came from the people in favor of mixing that many species in the same room. And I guess it was partly her fault."

 

The girl laughed and Sanji relaxed slowly. His secret was safe, if only because hers was at stake too. She was suprisingly nice to talk to, for an amazon. They hadn't the best of reputations but they were respected for their skills as warriors. She didn't really look the part, but neither did he, and yet here they were. Sharing a bathtube, breaking international treaties and laughing. The year promised to be chaotic.

He couldn't wait.

 

**Author's Note:**

> bijou(x): jewelry  
> maudit(s): cursed  
> vulcain(s): vulcan, (also the roman name of the god Héphaïstos)
> 
> Okay! So that was the short prologue. I hope you liked it. Please tell me what you think; you can find me on tumblr at @amako-sama


End file.
